His Strength
by PenelopeLuhoo
Summary: Secrets. What a horrid word. Specially for a young couple in love. Follow Stella and Brandon overcome every obstacle life places between them to be together. Follow Brandon become stronger with her love and Stella become bolder with his.
1. The Offer

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Winx Club.

**Author's Note:** Hi! I'm really glad I was able to finally post this. This is a work in progress so be gentle with me because I'm practically a nod when it comes to writing and English isn't my first language. I'm bilingual. Updates might take a while, but don't worry I already have the_ whole_ story planned out. There's a lot of surprises in store for you guys.

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter One:** The Offer

**By:** Penelope Luhoo

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The headquarters of Shields Enterprises stood tall and mighty as Stella made her way through the massive, glass doors. Workers walked in and out of the building with phones in hands hurriedly and secretaries took everyone's names to allow them entry to the different floors.

The building was just as impressive as it had been just a week ago when Stella had first laid her amber eyes upon it. Everything consisted of glass and marble, screaming out wealthy and power. The main counter stood at the head of the lobby with two elevators by its side and the CEO's own personal one by the middle.

Stella walked forward, her stilettos clicking against the marble tiles, and her hair bouncing in accordance to her steps. Shields Enterprises might be massive, but Stella was already familiar with wealth and luxury, so she didn't let that ruin her confidence.

"Stella Solaria?" an unfamiliar voice spoke questioningly.

Stella turned her body towards the direction of the voice and smiled when she saw a woman that looked quite like a secretary standing there with a notebook and a pencil on her hands. "The one and only." she smiled confidently, pulling out her manicured hand for the secretary to shake.

"The Shields are waiting for you, ma'am." she smiled back, shaking her hand firmly. "If you could follow me, please?"

"Of course." Stella nodded immediately, already taking out her sketches to be prepared. "The CEO's finally here, right?"

"Correct." The secretary nodded, leading them to the CEO's own personal elevator and pressing the twentieth floor. "But he has a meeting in about two hours, so he'll really appreciate it if you attend him first."

"Of course." Stella nodded. "I'm already done with his family. He's the one that's left, and I have to do a few tweaks to his wife's dress, but that's about it."

"Then it should all be good. We showed Mr. Shields some of your sketches this morning and he really liked them. There's a huge possibility he might consider you to be his personal designer." The secretary informed Stella, waiting patiently for the elevator doors to open.

"Satisfying my customers is what I aim for, Miss." Stella smiled, hands gripping her sketchbook tightly, trying to regain her composure at the news the secretary just gave her. "I'm just grateful that this family gave me a chance."

"They do believe in local talents." The secretary smiled softly, stepping out of the elevator and into another lobby, only this one was smaller than the main one, but still as majestic.

"Mr. Shields in there?" The secretary asked what seemed to be an assistant and placed some papers on top of her desk, presumably some papers needed for the meeting.

"The whole family, Anika." the assistant nodded, pressing a button and asking for permission to enter the CEO's private office. A green light on top of the office's door signaled Stella and the secretary (Anika) could enter. Anika entered first, greeting the family while Stella placed some of her bags on a corner on the floor.

Stella smiled, admiring her surroundings while greeting the older Mrs. Shields, Indira. She and her husband looked like brother and sister, having the same chocolate, brown hair and the same tanned skin, the only thing that seemed different was the color of their eyes, Indira had sparkling, green eyes and Thomas had honey, brown eyes. And despite their similarity in appearance, they were still a sight to behold and a loving couple.

Another person Stella had clicked very well with was the CEO's wife. Her name's Elle and she's a supermodel and an entrepreneur. She shared Stella's love with shopping and heels and Stella's style of clothing. She was an absolute sweetheart, helping Stella with some minor difficulties at the beginning of this gig.

Now, the CEO was a complete mystery to Stella. She didn't know about his existence up until the day she heard Indira yell at him over the phone for not being at New York the day Stella was measuring their body lengths. She had heard his name in one of Indira's rant and once she had gotten home, she rushed over to her room and googled him, but so far, the only news she had found were of his wedding with supermodel Elle. She went over to ask her parents, but they too knew very little of him, only telling her that she won't find any personal information of such private person like him.

Seeing him up close, up front, made Stella become speechless. He was literally the same exact copy of his father. Same luscious hair, same tanned skin and same chocolate eyes. He irradiated power and wealth, standing over his wife with a rolled up work black shirt and matching pants. He was handsome sure, but Stella had already pictured him that way from what the news had said. Never this handsome, but still handsome for sure.

"Hi." Stella greeted breathlessly. She wasn't one to become shy around boys, she liked the attention from the opposite sex and she really doesn't care to admit that she's some kind of flirt, but when you have a powerful figure looming around, you get slightly scared. Especially when it's your career that's on the test. "Stella." she told him with a radiant smile. "Pleasure to meet you."

The CEO took a few seconds to give her a once-over before nodding to himself and smiling softly, putting Stella at ease. "Brandon. And likewise." he stretched out his calloused hand for Stella to shake and she gladly did so, gulping at the slight, firm squeeze of his handshake.

Anika smiled at the exchange; glad her boss was finally here after two hectic months at work. "Brandon," she called him when Stella had stepped away from him to go over her bags. "We need to begin."

"Right." Indira nodded, placing her hands on her husband's shoulder. "Your father and I will take over while Stella fits your clothes. Elle can stay here, and we called some reinforcements to help you with the fitting, Stella. Is that all right with you?"

Stella raised her head from her place on the floor and found five heads looking at her expectantly. Nodding, she said, "Perfect. The more the merrier."

"Then it's all settled." Thomas stood up from his chair as Indira went over to Stella. "Call us if you need anything, dear."

Stella mumbled a soft 'alright' and within seconds the older married couple were already out of the office. Anika told Stella she was going to fetch the team of reinforcements and Brandon was still seated.

"Is there anything you want me to do?" Brandon asked from his place on his mighty chair after everyone had cleared the room. Elle was by his side, using her phone.

Stella looked back at him and then quickly back at the clothes she was hanging. "Uh, yeah. You can start by taking off your shirt."

As Brandon obeyed Stella's order, Elle went over to the busy blonde, watching her meticulously. "Really love the way you made our outfits match, Stell." she smiled, her index finger tugging her bottom lip. "You've outdone yourself."

"That's only because you guys have been so patient with me." Stella chuckled, continuing to work on the clothes. "And because you've helped me." she added.

"I helped you see what was already on your head. None were ideas of mine. It was all you." Elle praised the blonde, walking over to her husband and fetching his thrown shirt and folding it neatly. "Hey, Indira told me you're coming to the gala too. Is that right?" Elle asked, effectively changing the topic.

"Yeah. My parents were invited." Stella answered.

"That's good, at least a friendly face will be around." Elle commented with a sigh.

"And what am I? A stranger?" Brandon asked with sarcasm, finally saying something. Stella smiled at him, catching a slight glimpse of his toned, naked chest before turning her head back to her work to hide her growing blush.

"You won't be available tonight, hun." Elle reminded him and Brandon shrugged carelessly. Stella didn't know why, but she had a slight impression that there wasn't any spark between these two. Sure, they talked and joked and called each other sweet names, but it seemed scripted and not natural. He seemed ignorant when addressing her.

"Reinforcements are here!" a familiar voice sang, Stella's eyes widening as she recognized who it was.

"Nora!" the blonde went over to hug the middle-aged lady. Indira had told her Nora had been Brandon's nana when he was a child. She often helped Indira take care of him when she was too busy working at home. The lady had also stitched numerous of Brandon's sport pants every time he had split the pants in half in a game. Or so Indira had told.

"Let me see those dresses." Nora said once she broke the hug. Nora was Stella's favorite here. She had always been able to maintain such a positive attitude that Stella found it hard to feel gloomy about going to work.

"Elle's still needs some work." Stella informed the lady, going back to iron Brandon's shirt.

"But it's nothing serious, right?" Nora asked.

"No. Not at all." Stella said, grabbing Brandon's shirt and motioning him to walk over to her. "We just need to adjust it at the waist a little."

"Then I think I can do it." Nora said, grabbing the dress and Elle by the arm. "I'll go over to the bathroom, there's a mirror there so Elle can look at how tight she wants it."

Stella nodded, focused on her work. Nora and Elle left to the bathroom, leaving Stella and Brandon alone in the room.

"I need you to tell me if you feel the shirt's too tight." Stella told him, helping him out on the shirt without smudging it.

Brandon nodded and waited for Stella to do her work so he could infer on the way the fabric clung to him. "Is this your first job at designing clothes?"

Stella placed a needle on her mouth, her eyebrows furrowed in scrutiny. "My first real designing job, yes." She told him. "But I've stitched millions of dresses up until now."

"You plan on working as a fashion designer for a whole career?" he continued to ask, checking the hour to be sure he wasn't late for his meeting.

"If it provides me a future, then yes. Fashion is what I'm passionate about."

"I'm sure Anika already told you I plan to make you our official fashion designer, right?" he asked seriously.

Stella paused her work, staring intently at the needle before looking at the CEO. "She told me you might consider me. Not that you plan to."

"Well, I'm telling you that I plan to make you the official designer of The Shields." he clarified with a smartass grin.

"You plan? Why?" Stella asked confused, leaving her work aside. "You don't even know me."

"I don't. But my parents do. And Elle too. Besides, I don't hire people I know, I hire people by their skills and knowledge and you seem to have a lot of those in this particular camp." Brandon said, Stella's mouth curling into a small grin. "And I heard earlier that your parents were invited to our gala. Surely, if they're invited they must important, no? Why don't you ask for their help?"

"Because I want to be known on my account. Not theirs." Stella argued.

"People don't rise without help, Miss Solaria." he advised. "I didn't build this company on my own. I inherited it from my father."

"But that's different."

"Then, let us help you. Mom was driving me nuts this morning to offer you a job."

"Then why doesn't she ask me herself?"

"She doesn't travel like me. Her time being the CEO's wife is over. She can't offer you the success I can. Besides, she prefers being a housewife."

"So you're offering me a job?" Stella asked to be sure of what she was hearing.

"Elle and I are offering you one. I don't know if you noticed but she's a model. She's the one that needs the personal designer." He clarified yet again.

"That makes more sense than you offering me one." Stella smiled, holding out different types of ties to see which one looked better.

"Yeah, I should've clarified that earlier." Brandon chuckled, Stella's mind blacking out for a slight moment at the sound of his laugh. "Elle was just scared to ask."

"Then I'll sleep on it. I'll call her tomorrow with an answer."

"I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to hear that."

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Very short chapter, I know. But if I wrote more, then I might be giving away more information than I bargain for.

But on another note, I want to tell you that feedback is always welcomed, good or bad, I don't really care.

Thank you for reading!


	2. Interesting Boss

**Disclaimer:** I don't own WINX CLUB.

**Author's Note: **Hi! I'm back with another chapter! Enjoy it!

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The morning of Stella's first day at work was an absolute ruckus. She had woken up late — no surprise there, had not prepared an outfit and her hair was completely messed up. And to explain entirely her situation, it was 7:30 and Stella was supposed to arrive at 8:00 sharp. Not a minute late not a minute earlier.

"Guess I'll have to skip breakfast today." she noted sarcastically, throwing her blonde hair into a half messy up-do.

Stella's closet only consisted of flashy outfits — tight dresses, glittered blouses and tiny skirts, none of which appropriate for work. When Stella glanced at the clock, neatly resting at her nightstand, she saw that she had a few minutes more before the numbers turned to 7:45 and then she resorted to pick one of her mother's black knee-length skirt and a plain white collared shirt from her closet. She threw on her favorite pair of Louis Vuitton stiletto heels and applied her glossy lip-gloss.

Partially satisfied with her appearance, she threw a wink at herself in the mirror and strutted over to her door, opening and nearly sprinting down the stairs.

When Stella turned eighteen, her parents gave her as a gift her own private loft in downtown Manhattan so she could be closer to her university and closer to the city. At first, Stella beamed at the thought of finally living alone. No parents to order you to clean, no restrictions and no more rules. Only, it got harder the more she spent alone. She now has bills to pay, food to buy and responsibilities to take.

The only good part was that Stella could bring any boy she ever wanted without having her dad breathing down her neck — but even that was bad since Stella only brought home two boys and both ended in one night stands, neither staying to properly thank her for the night.

Ever since then, Stella has only focused on her own work, her career. Boyfriends come and go but her job might stay forever, and she'd rather have a sustainable job first than a relationship. No relationship works with one party not working.

Still, that didn't mean that Stella was going to stay single forever, it just meant that she's not in desperate need of a boyfriend.

...

After nearly fifteen minutes later, Stella finally reached Shields Enterprise safe and sound. The building seemed as hectic as it had been the first day she came here and possibly even larger.

Earlier this week, by Monday, Mr. Shields had emailed Stella the contract she had to follow when working with Elle. To the blonde's surprise, Mr. Shields had also emailed her a flyer containing a job offer as an interior designer in his own company. Apparently someone had retired from their job and now they needed someone to fill in full-time. Mr. Shields had read Stella's resume and since it said that she had studied both fashion and interior design, he sent the proposition to her. Stella obviously accepted immediately, she was finally fulfilling her dream to work as both, and interior and fashion designer and she wasn't going to let the opportunity fall from her hands.

Of course, before properly accepting the job offer, Stella went through a series of 'trainings' in the company with the director of the interior design team in order to get to know what her work really consisted in and what details she had to know. And after two long days of talks and meetings, she finally signed her three year contract and placed a starting day with the director, being today. Mr. Shields hadn't once shown his face in the meetings and Stella was partially glad that he wasn't there; something about him, the way he watched her work at his fitting, drove Stella to the brink of madness, she didn't like the way he stared at her, it made her feel anxious and nervous.

Pushing her thoughts away about her handsome boss, Stella smoothed out the edges of her fitted skirt, catching the sight of a redhead woman – possibly around her same age, walking towards her. The unknown girl stood in front of Stella, her outfit similar to hers and a professional smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

"Ms. Solaria, right?" she spoke, peering at her iPad for further identification. "You're the new employee for the interior design team?"

"Yes, I am, Miss . . ?"

"Bloom Peters. We'll be working under the same team." She revealed her name, extending her hand for Stella to shake. The blonde shook it firmly, raising a curious eyebrow at the girl.

"You're an interior designer too?" she asked curiously, glad to have someone her age working with her.

Unfortunately, Bloom shook her head no. "No. I'm their accountant, I'm the one that approves the purchases you guys make."

Stella nodded her head in understanding, gripping her purse tightly and continuing to smile. "Right," she conceded, clearing her throat at the new awkwardness ensued.

Bloom smiled faintly, and gestured Stella to follow her. "Priya teamed us together, I'll be your accountant and you'll be my designer, from now on we'll be working together."

Stella raised a confused eyebrow as she kept following the girl, stepping inside an elevator. "I'm sorry, I don't think I quite understand," Stella voiced her confusions. "You're not the only accountant?"

"No. Our work consists in the projects Priya gives us. You design and I make the transactions. Not everyone works on the same hotel." Bloom explained, patiently waiting for the elevator door to open. "We're a team and we have to make sure we're the best; always handing in our propositions on time, making sure they're approved by Priya and when Priya approves, we wait for the CEO's answers." She, along Stella, stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened. "And when we get everyone's approval, we start working on the project and fly over with the CEO to the hotel we're supposed to decorate."

"Fly over?" Stella repeated in astonishment, Priya – the director of the interior design team, left so many information out for Stella. She only told the blonde that she was going to hand in lots of design projects.

"Yeah. There are over 50 hotels spread worldwide in need of weekly changes, here's our first one." Bloom gestured to the file on top of the lobby's counter that read Bloom Stella. "Italy." Bloom read out loud, Stella's eyes widening. "There's a wedding in one of our hotel's in Italy. We have to decorate it."

"You mean they already have work for me?" Stella asked, fetching the file from Bloom's hand.

"You're never going to do nothing while you're here, Miss Solaria." Bloom told her, placing a comforting hand on top of the shoulder of the gaping blonde. "That's something I learned the hard way when I was new here." She sighed; her shoulders slumped. "Now come on, we have to move you into my office."

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Stella's shared office had an incredible view to the city of Manhattan. After she spent two hours decorating and arranging her part of the office to her taste, Stella excused herself from Bloom and went over to the nearest fast food to buy Bloom and her some lunch. It was 3:48 so everyone had already eaten lunch and the streets weren't as busy as they would normally be in lunch hours.

Stella liked her job more than she would've expected. Despite being surrounded by a competitive air, every employee respected the other's privacy and worked on their own project. They seemed mature enough to drop the whole 'plotting against' game and that gave Stella some reassurance to know that she was safe between her shared four walls.

Bloom at first was a bit shy, collected. She only spoke professionally to Stella and always addressed her as 'Ms. Solaria' even a after millions of complaints from the blonde to call her Stella. But after a while, they started to have normal conversations where Stella learned that Bloom is the same age as her, she's been working as an accountant for the company for six months now and she learned that the redhead lives only three blocks away from her in her own loft too. For once, Stella was really happy about the start of her job, she could see herself making some good memories and learning more about her job.

Wendy's was completely empty; Stella ordered quickly and got her meals in a span of ten minutes. Luckily for her because she wasn't in the mood for big long lines. Gathering her food from the counter, Stella paid the cashier ten bucks before leaving the fast food and walking towards the building she now worked in. Her office was in floor seven, the interior design team had its own floor and its own lobby with about twenty offices and fifty workers. Stella's office, in her opinion was the best one, slightly isolated from the others and close to the glass windows. It was fairly large, large enough to fit a couch and two desks.

When the elevator's door opened, Stella stepped in and pressed the floor seven and waited for the doors to shut. She smoothed out her outfit, checked her mascara for smudges and glanced at her hair and lipstick. Finally, the doors of the elevator began to close. But before they could, a hand reached through to stop them.

"Ms. Solaria," the infamous CEO interrupted the elevator doors and stepped in with a charming smile, looking as poised as ever. "Fancy meeting you here," he smiled politely, eyeing the blonde from the corner of his eyes and reaching out to press floor number nine. "I take you took the job?"

Stella could only stare. Here was the man that had helped her get a job with his wife, smiling at her and acting as if they were friends. Stella admired his confidence, almost praised it. He seemed like the type of man that didn't care a thing about anyone or anything but himself, the type of man that knew how his good looks can take him anywhere and still, take advantage of it audaciously.

So Stella cleared her throat, eliminating her opinions from her mind and regaining her posture. "I did, actually." She confessed with a slight nod. "I started today as you can see."

"Are you liking it so far?" he asked curiously, raising his eyebrow to the perfect angle. "Did you meet your new teammate?"

"Yeah, I already moved some of my stuff to our new office."

"Perfect," he went to fetch his phone from his pocket, his arms muscles bulging and causing Stella to waver slightly in her place. "Remind me tomorrow to talk to you? It's very important."

Stella stared at her new boss, intrigued. Sure he was her boss, but where she worked, she had a direct boss, Priya. Stella was pretty sure Mr. Shields had nothing to do with what she worked on, but she just dismissed her thoughts and nodded in assessment, stepping out of the elevator when the doors opened. "Have a good day, sir."

Stella watched as the doors closed slowly, Mr. Shields sending her a quick wink and Stella twirling her hair with her fingers, trying to refrain herself from grinning my biting her bottom lip.

_What an interesting boss, _she thought, picturing him in her mind. There was no doubt Stella liked her boss, the man was a walking majestic specie. Hot, powerful and confident. There was nothing that Stella liked more in a man than confidence, humor and muscles and Mr. Shields was proving to have two of those qualities already.

"You do know he's married, right?" A shrill girl commented, rolling her eyes in disgust at the blonde. She had been watching the blonde's body language ever since she stepped out the elevator that had Mr. Shields in it.

Stella scoffed at the girl, quickly stepping back and making a beeline to her office. Any other day, Stella would've seriously talked back to a girl that spoke to her so disrespectfully, but Stella reminded herself that this was her first day here. A scandal about how she was fantasizing about her boss would seriously ruin her reputation. Besides, as obnoxious as the girl seemed, she had a point. The man was married, there's no way there's a chance for Stella there so she should just drop situation and continue working.

With newfound rage, Stella stepped into her shared office and stopped midstride when she found her fellow teammate practically snogging with a muscular, blonde man. They weren't actually snogging, but they were really close to each other.

Upon hearing the door beep, the couple bounded away from each other's embrace and sighed in relief when they saw it was just Stella walking in.

"Stella," Bloom breathed out, hand in her chest. "I thought you were Priya, sorry."

Stella shook her head, placing the bag of food on top of her desk. "It's okay, I'm the one that should be sorry. I didn't know you were going to have company."

Bloom laughed uneasily and grabbed the man's muscular arm, pulling him close to her. "This is my boyfriend, Sky. Sky, this is the girl I was telling you about earlier, Stella."

Sky smiled respectfully at the blonde, a bashful look in his eyes. "Nice to meet you, ma'am." He extended his hand towards Stella.

"Likewise." She took his hand. "Are you going to eat with us? I can make you a space over here if you'd –"

"No, No, that's okay, really." He told her. "I just came here to wait for my friend, which I see he's already here. Thank you anyway." He said, grabbing Bloom's waist a giving her a quick peck before regarding Stella. "Have a good meal, ladies."

Stella waved at him, waiting for the doors of her office to close before turning to Bloom with a sly smirk. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

Bloom shrugged bashfully, her cheeks growing warm at the thought of him. "The topic never came up."

Stella laughed, going over to her food and handing Bloom her soda. "Have you two been together for a while?"

"Almost a year now. He helped me get this job."

"That's sweet."

"Yeah . . ." Bloom said, her thoughts running from her incredible boyfriend to the call she receive ed twenty minutes ago. "Oh, wait! I almost forgot to tell you," she exclaimed, reaching over her desk to grab a paper. "Mr. Shields wants to talk to you tomorrow, here's your pass."

Stella grabbed the pass, her mind going over he memory at the elevator. _Guess he really meant business._

"Don't get nervous, though," Bloom said, seeing the blonde's reluctant ways. "He's just going to ask you about your personal life. He does that to get to know his employees a little better. Nothing serious."

"You went through that too?"

"Yeah," Bloom nodded. "Everyone does, male or female."

"That's really creative," Stella commented. "I would've never thought of that."

"Me either," Bloom shrugged. "But you need to be prepared for a long talk, Mr. Shields will talk to you about dress codes, policies, contracts everything job necessary you need to know."

"Is he going to tell me about the date we have to hand in the project?" Stella asked, peering through the blueprints of the place she has to decorate. "Oh, wait, the date is here. Due in one month and a half."

"One month?!" Bloom asked in astonishment. "For a whole wedding? That's harsh."

"I know . . ." Stella nodded, sipping her soda. "At least we have each other."

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And . . . that's it for today! Another short chapter, I know sorry, remember, this is just the beginning, the story will continuously get better from now on. Also, since I can't write in Brandon's POV the story might be a little lame, but by the fifth or sixth chapter, you guys are supposed to learn more about our favorite brunet.

I was thinking, would you all rather have me writing the chapters from third person or first person? I feel like first person would make this much better so I'm writing the next chapter in Stella's POV if you guys don't mind. Then, you tell me which view you like better.

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**Guest: **Here's the chapter! Enjoy it!

**Sea Emerald: **Yes! Brandon is married, interesting, right?

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Thank you users, for reviewing, hope you four and everyone who read like this chapter and I guess I'll see you next time!


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